Schecter Model T Session

[Al Krow]

Ah I thought I had explained (albeit briefly!)...let me restate with some examples:

• It's all about the mids (isn't it?) - so I will typically boost the mids to make sure I am 'punching through' the mix; but some songs need you to be 'sitting back' a bit more with less punchy mids;
• I will on occasion cut the bass to eliminate boominess, but it's sometimes good to also be able to boost it a touch particularly if I am using drive where the low end seems to be being lost;
• I will dial down the treble on occasion for a more vintage sound (and then dial back up when not required).

But I typically play my basses actively rather than passively (which I believe is what you mostly do) so having a 3 band EQ is something I find useful. It's probably very fair to say you could do all the above on your amp if you have a decent EQ on that and in theory just have a volume knob on your bass... but being able to adjust on the fly on your bass is a lot 'handier' and more seamless in terms of not turning your back on the band and audience. 

And fortunately ALL my active basses offer 3 bands "as standard" (Ibanez, Yamaha, Schecter), so indeed I don't need to settle for less!

Shiny knobs are always good, for sure, and there plenty I don't adjust once they have been set, but the ones on my bass pre-amp I do like the flexibility to be able to adjust on the fly.

Edited February 9, 2019 by Al Krow

[Cuzzie]

Didn’t miss a trick - all you said in the first post was it’s all about the mids, maybe dialling back the bass and boosting the treble.........

Yep - I think we all know that - it’s EQing your sound be that on the bass, on the amp, via a pedal, yes having it on the bass allows flexibility which may or may not be used.

The question merely asked how often the change was done on the bass as opposed to via the amp, or on the desk on the fly mid/between songs when change is needed.

 

 

[Al Krow]

Simple answer on frequency (and this obvs is just for me) - very rarely mid song. Between songs more often and remember with a function or even pub set you want to keep any "dead-air" time to a min, so having EQ on the bass is helpful.

The other really useful time IMO is being able to adjust EQ away from the backline and when standing closer to the audience - very much easier to do that on the fly from the bass rather than having to walk back and forth to the amp.

[krispn]

It’d be interesting to know how many folks have gone back to passive basses after the experiment with active and the endless tweaking on a gig 

[Al Krow]

12 in the UK

87 in the US

none in Thailand

[Cuzzie]

crikey and answer without,  italics, capitals, bunny ears, brackets or Bingo shouts

You feeling ok @Al Krow?

[Al Krow]

Also be interesting to know...

how many gave up pedal boards altogether because the tonal variety was way too exciting for them?

or how many took up bass because 6 strings was just two too many?

...but then felt intense string loss and went back up to 5ers?

[Al Krow]

5 minutes ago, Cuzzie said:

crikey and answer without,  italics, capitals, bunny ears, brackets or Bingo shouts

You feeling ok @Al Krow?

Lol - just been dealing with a completely arrogant / lying guitarist (on Gumtree) who wants to audition for a dep role with the function band I'm in. Has put me in a very sarky frame (hence my responses to krsipn!). 

"I have played in a functions band in the past yes. They didn't have a name but they were excellent and very professional."

"Ron - thanks very much, but all the applicants we are going forward with have provided YouTube clips of function bands they have played with and all the function bands had names! Without such examples I'm afraid we can't consider your application further. Thank you very much for your application and I wish you all the best with your professional musical career. Al"

"It's your decision but it's a bad decision. I know for a fact that I have the best guitar sound and skills for your band and just because I'm not showing you a video of a fuction band that I was in, you are penalizing me for this, which is very childish, unfair and arrogant as you clearly think your band is one of the best which it is not. You only have one gig per month lol I'm the best candidate and You want the best guitarist candidate right? Why would you let me, the best guitarist go just because of one video. That's honestly really pathetic. Just from the way you've handled this, I am now completely refusing my services to you."

Ron - thank you, that was helpful and very insightful. My life has, indeed, been full of bad decisions and this decision to choose other guitarists to audition is clearly just another example of me messing up my life and that of my band-mates. I will one day learn. But maybe it will be too late by then for me to recover from the many mistakes I have made? Who knows? You do sound really amazing and you are right, you are most likely much too good for us as a band which only has one gig per month lol. I promise therefore not to waste the time of someone so talented as you going forward, and I am sure you will find a much better band than us very soon, given that you are the 'best guitarist' we could possibly have hoped for. You are completely correct to refuse your services to us.

 

Edited February 9, 2019 by Al Krow

[Bridgehouse]

@Al Krow - Mate, you should have just accepted with good grace that they didn’t want you to have the guitarist job...

 

 

 

[Cuzzie]

Sounds fair to me.

What happened in the days before you tube footage - he would have had an audition

[Al Krow]

1 minute ago, Bridgehouse said:

@Al Krow - Mate, you should have just accepted with good grace that they didn’t want you to have the guitarist job...

The quality of humour clearly is sometimes strained. 

Although, like mercy, it is also twice blest, particularly for those of us subject to it.

Your avatar is now the bass you no longer miss? What gives?!

[Al Krow]

2 minutes ago, Cuzzie said:

Sounds fair to me.

What happened in the days before you tube footage - he would have had an audition

I'll pass your details on to him.

[Al Krow]

Right 'nuff banter. Time to go gig. Enjoy your Saturday evening boys, whatever you're up to!

[Cuzzie]

Stand closer to the amp

Better EQ options

[Bridgehouse]

2 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

The quality of humour clearly is sometimes strained. 

Although, like mercy, it is also twice blest, particularly for those of us subject to it.

Your avatar is now the bass you no longer miss? What gives?!

I can’t be a*sed to change my pic. It’ll get swapped when the new ACG comes.. maybe 

[Guest]

The only thing I didn’t like about the Schecter was the cheap-looking black pick guard, so I got a tortoiseshell one made up instead. 😊

[Reggaebass]

7 minutes ago, Lord Summerisle said:

The only thing I didn’t like about the Schecter was the cheap-looking black pick guard, so I got a tortoiseshell one made up instead. 😊

Very nice indeed 👍

[CameronJ]

2 hours ago, Lord Summerisle said:

The only thing I didn’t like about the Schecter was the cheap-looking black pick guard, so I got a tortoiseshell one made up instead. 😊

Ooft. Good work sir.

[mcnach]

13 hours ago, Al Krow said:

How about this: 

or perhaps...

Should do the same job as, or likely a lot better than, an onboard preamp in terms of delivering semi-para mids.

A pedal will require less 'invasive' surgery to your bass for which you're likely to see no return on your coin if you move your Schecter on with an uprated EQ, whereas at least you'll be able to sell the pedal on for a fair price (and at little loss if you can secure one used) and, in the meantime you can also use with all your other basses current and future!

Hmmm... thinking there's a lesson in that for me too! 😁

 

You show me a cannon when all I want is a newspaper to hit a mosquito

 

A simple semiparametic (100-1000 Hz) with two controls, stacked, is all I want on the bass. I find that effective yet easy to tweak on the spot. Give me a passive tone plus a semiparametric like that one, and I'm happy.

Resale value is not a factor for me. I really don't care. I find it odd to not modify an instrument the way I like it just in case I lose a few £ should I want to sell it in the future.  Besides, it's easy to restore to stock, all I'm doing is changing two components and wires.

And finally... this bass stays. I love it. This and the Stingray are the unsaleables

Edited February 10, 2019 by mcnach

[Al Krow]

1 minute ago, mcnach said:

 

You show me a cannon when all I want is a newspaper to hit a mosquito

 

A simple semiparametic (100-1000 Hz) with two controls, stacked, is all I want on the bass. I find that effective yet easy to tweak on the spot. Give me a passive tone plus a semiparametric like that one, and I'm happy.

 

If you know clearly your path to happiness and it is one that avoids cannons, then who am I to argue?  

[mcnach]

11 hours ago, Al Krow said:

With EQ the ability to tweak on the fly is really nice to have and having dials, firstly on the bass itself, then an amp or a EQ pedal (in that order) would be my preference...

I'm really only suggesting an EQ pedal as semi-parametric mids are not that common on 'standard' bass pre-amps and if they're a must have for the OP then a pedal could be used across his entire herd.

The lack of easy tweaking of the Stomp 'on the fly' for EQ purposes is likely to mean it doesn't get used for EQ adjustment by me, but I'm sure plenty of other folk will.

 

 

 

Oh there's a few for bass preamps.

John East make a stand alone mids module... out of stock right now, temporarily, but it's part of the 3-band MMSR, so not difficult to obtain. Selectable sweep between 100-1000 or 200-2000 Hz

As the Model T is EMG equipped, I looked at EMG, and they have a stand alone module, the VMC, which is very similar although only 100-1000.

I've seen others by Noll, I think, and cheapies by ToneMonster.

 

[mcnach]

10 hours ago, Cuzzie said:

Question is for those 3 band EQ fans/must haves on a bass.

How often when playing live are you actually tweaking on the fly song by song by song?

Also how many times during this tweaking was a 3 band absolutely essential that a 2 band could not have gotten you out of a hole?

If a mid adjust is needed how often is it not possible on your amp, or at a desk if you are straight in?

 

I find it much nicer to have it at my fingertips. Just my preference. I set the amp for the 'general' sound, and then use the onboard controls as required. I'm also one of the people who use passive tone controls a lot, while others just leave them open. I also favour single pickup basses while others keep playing with different pickups and combinations...

Are you really suggesting I should ask the guy at the desk to change my mids for monitor and FOH as the gig progresses?

As for 3 band over 2 band... funny, I don't care for bass/treble controls, so give me the 3-band purely for mids. But I want mids where I can select the centre frequency between as low as 100Hz to 1000 or 2000 Hz. That one single control is very intuitive and powerful. I like it. My preference. Possibly not on the bible, 'though but there you go.

[mcnach]

10 hours ago, Cuzzie said:

An answer without an answer......

Didn’t ask you to settle for less, asked a simple question about useage of the 3 band EQ.

But if you don’t use it or change it that’s fine too - nice to have shiny knobs

 

That's a bit of a flippant answer, isn't it?

 

Let us, who know how to use our knobs, have them. Or something

[mcnach]

8 hours ago, krispn said:

It’d be interesting to know how many folks have gone back to passive basses after the experiment with active and the endless tweaking on a gig 

 

Hey, the possession of knobs do not imply you need to use them all the time.

If you're endlessly tweaking then maybe you haven't figured out what sound you're after... or the bass just cannot produce it and you haven't realised it.

And yes, I fell for that too. My first active bass, a Warwick Corvette $$, with multiple switches and push/pull knobs... I swear I spent more time playing with my knobs 😛 than playing music. Then the Stingray saved me.

 

[mcnach]

8 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Lol - just been dealing with a completely arrogant / lying guitarist (on Gumtree) who wants to audition for a dep role with the function band I'm in. Has put me in a very sarky frame (hence my responses to krsipn!). 

"I have played in a functions band in the past yes. They didn't have a name but they were excellent and very professional."

"Ron - thanks very much, but all the applicants we are going forward with have provided YouTube clips of function bands they have played with and all the function bands had names! Without such examples I'm afraid we can't consider your application further. Thank you very much for your application and I wish you all the best with your professional musical career. Al"

"It's your decision but it's a bad decision. I know for a fact that I have the best guitar sound and skills for your band and just because I'm not showing you a video of a fuction band that I was in, you are penalizing me for this, which is very childish, unfair and arrogant as you clearly think your band is one of the best which it is not. You only have one gig per month lol I'm the best candidate and You want the best guitarist candidate right? Why would you let me, the best guitarist go just because of one video. That's honestly really pathetic. Just from the way you've handled this, I am now completely refusing my services to you."

Ron - thank you, that was helpful and very insightful. My life has, indeed, been full of bad decisions and this decision to choose other guitarists to audition is clearly just another example of me messing up my life and that of my band-mates. I will one day learn. But maybe it will be too late by then for me to recover from the many mistakes I have made? Who knows? You do sound really amazing and you are right, you are most likely much too good for us as a band which only has one gig per month lol. I promise therefore not to waste the time of someone so talented as you going forward, and I am sure you will find a much better band than us very soon, given that you are the 'best guitarist' we could possibly have hoped for. You are completely correct to refuse your services to us.

 

 

I didn't know Donald Trump played guitar!!!

 

Last year we tried to start a side project with members of my main two bands. We went to the first tryout with this guitarist we found on facebook... talked the talk, but what a poser he was. Horrible tone, all he could do was widdle over bluesy tunes (and my rule #1 when we started the project was "I ain't playing no steenkin' bluez") and often out of tune. 

After we gave him the "thanks but we're going in a different direction", he got really upset and bombarded our messenger with short messages about how we clearly feel threatened by his superior musicianship and bs like that. It was hilarious, in a cringeworthy manner. Poor guy. Maybe he moved towards your town?